For years, a business’s website was the starting point. Someone heard about a company, searched for it, and the website answered the first real question: what does this business actually do?
That is changing. A growing number of people are now asking AI platforms the same question before they ever open a website.
Last week, I asked ChatGPT a simple question: what does Wisitech do? The answer was broadly accurate. It described our services correctly: websites, ecommerce, SEO, ads, branding, all of it.
Nobody at Wisitech wrote or reviewed that description. It was generated entirely by AI, based on what it could find about us online, and it was largely right.
What it left out is more interesting than what it got right. It did not mention CS-Cart, the platform we consider our strongest technical differentiator. To anyone reading that AI-generated summary, we look like a capable, general digital agency. Nothing in it tells a prospective customer why they should choose us over another digital agency
Accurate is not the same as differentiated
Search results have always shaped how people discover businesses. What is new is that AI platforms do not just list options. They summarize what a business does, in a single paragraph, before a person ever visits a website.
That summary can be entirely accurate and still say nothing that sets a business apart. It reflects what is publicly available, not necessarily what actually makes a business the right choice.
Have you checked what AI says about your business?
Businesses spend considerable time managing their websites, reviews, and social presence. But how many have actually asked an AI platform what it says about them? More importantly, does that description reflect what genuinely differentiates the business?
This is related to SEO, but it isn’t quite the same problem. Search engines help people discover existing pages. AI platforms can interpret that information, summarize it, and decide what matters enough to include.
What this means going forward
The answer isn’t necessarily to produce more content. It is to understand what AI platforms already know about your business and whether that picture reflects what genuinely sets you apart.
3 questions to reflect on
- Have you asked your favorite AI platform what it says about your business?
- If the description is accurate, does it also explain why someone should choose you specifically?
- What is the one thing about your business that an AI-generated summary is most likely to leave out?
Your website still matters. It just may not be the first thing your next customer encounters.
If this raised a question about how your business is represented in AI search, we are happy to take a look.
Further reading
